What are we looking for?
Sustainable dividends from just some of the Alberta-based companies of national importance.
The screen
Alberta’s place within Canada may ultimately be decided by referendum – or, more specifically, referendums – but the province’s key role in shaping the country’s biggest stock exchange is already well understood.
In fact, about 20 per cent of S&P/TSX 60 companies are headquartered in Alberta, helping form the pillar of Canada’s resource sector.
The western province’s role in providing income for Canadian investors is also significant, spurred by a wealth of pipeline operators, electricity generators, energy producers and more. Their importance directly adds to the dividend strength of financial-sector giants clustered in Ontario and Quebec.
For this search, our analysts at The Successful Investor started with a list of the biggest Canadian leaders headquartered in Alberta. We then applied our TSI Dividend Sustainability Rating System to those offering shareholders income buoyed by strong cash flow and earnings growth. Our system awards points to a stock based on key factors:
- One point for five years of continuous dividend payments
- Two points for more than five
- Two points if it has raised the payment in the past five years
- One point for management’s commitment to dividends
- One point for operating in non-cyclical industries
- One point for limited exposure to foreign currency rates and freedom from political interference
- Two points for a strong balance sheet, including manageable debt and adequate cash
- Two points for a long-term record of positive earnings and cash flow sufficient to cover dividend payments
- One point for an industry leader
Companies with 10 to 12 points have the most secure dividends, or the highest sustainability. Those with seven to nine points have above-average sustainability; average sustainability, four to six points; and below-average sustainability, one to three points.
More about TSI Network
TSI Network is the online home of the Successful Investor Inc. – the group of widely followed Canadian investment newsletters by editor and publisher Pat McKeough. They include our award-winning flagship newsletter, the Successful Investor, and the TSI Dividend Advisor. TSI Network is also affiliated with Successful Investor Wealth Management.
What we found
Our TSI Dividend Sustainability Rating System has generated a list of stocks. We highlight eight with particularly attractive yields:
Canadian oil-and-gas major Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T, headquartered in Calgary, generates production from oil sands, as well as conventional wells, for sale and to feed its refineries.
Pipeline operator TC Energy Corp. TRP-T, also based in Calgary, operates a 93,700-kilometre pipeline network that pumps natural gas from Alberta to Eastern Canada and the U.S. It also owns gas pipelines in Mexico and holds, or invests in, seven power plants in Canada and the U.S.
Capital Power Corp. CPX-T, headquartered in Edmonton, is a major power producer in Canada and the U.S. Its portfolio includes natural gas, renewables and battery energy storage solutions.
Enbridge Inc. ENB-T, based in Calgary, operates pipelines that pump oil and natural gas from Western Canada eastward as well as to the U.S.
Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corp. PPL-T operates pipelines and more in Canada and the United States, while Keyera Corp. KEY-T, also based in Calgary, is one of our largest midstream oil-and-gas operators.
AltaGas Ltd. ALA-T, headquartered in Calgary, primarily processes, transports, stores and markets natural gas for producers. It also operates natural gas utilities and is a power generator, with gas-fired, coal-fired, wind, biomass and hydroelectric plants.
And finally, Calgary-based South Bow Corp. SOBO-T was spun off from TC Energy Corp. in October, 2024. It’s now a pure-play pipeline company with about 90 per cent of its cash flow coming from rate-regulated or long-term shipping contracts with oil producers. The company’s 4,900-kilometre pipeline network pumps crude from Alberta to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and the Gulf of Mexico.
Scott Clayton, MBA, is senior analyst for TSI Network and associate editor of TSI Dividend Advisor.